There may be no Sam Brown this year, but Badger Beers hero Gustavian leads Anthony Honeyball’s three-pronged attack in the Unibet Veterans’ Handicap Chase at Sandown on Saturday.
Honeyball’s stablemate Sam Brown won the event when it was moved to Warwick in 2023 and went down fighting 12 months ago when defending his title at Market Rasen in another weather-affected year.
However, the baton now passes to good Wincanton scorer Gustavian, who is tasked with taking his game to the next level again after a gutsy performance in Wincanton in early November.
Honeyball said: “He set a personal best in the Badger Beer and he probably had a tough enough race despite winning so easily, so we felt we would put him in for that if he had qualified.
“I’m really happy with him, he looks good and he’s trained well this week. He won well on good ground at Wincanton as a right-hander and it will be similar at Sandown, if not a bit of a dead-end.”
“He seems to enjoy a bit of ground and also being versatile, so maybe that will help with the jumping as he jumped excellently at Wincanton and we are hoping for a repeat of some sort of performance from him.
“He is young at heart and has a lot of spirit in him. If he gets into a good jumping rhythm, he could prove difficult to beat.”
Gustavian is joined in the line-up by Credo, who finished third behind her stablemate at Wincanton before finishing fourth at Ascot last time out, while Blackjack Magic is also engaged on his return after the best part of a year off the track.
On Credo’s chances, Honeyball added: “She’ll be there in the pack and sneak away and it’ll be good for her if there’s a nice gallop up front. She can do her usual thing of sitting where she’s happy and creep away.”
“We put the visor back on and I don’t know how much difference that makes, but we always thought we would keep the visor for this race as she won two veteran qualifiers last season.
“It will be an opposite tactic to Gustavian’s so they don’t get in each other’s way. Gustavian will even help Credo while doing what he loves.
“I think she has a very good opportunity and, when the opportunity is there, she has a good habit of knowing where the lollipop is.”
Copperhead broke the hearts of the Honeyball team 12 months ago and although he has only made one appearance in the Cheltenham field this season, 12-year-old Joe Tizzard is back to defend his crown at a venue where he is in winning form.
Tizzard said: “He had a few problems last spring and he got going late enough, but he needed the run at Cheltenham and I was happy with that.
“He seems to be in nice shape and it will be a tougher race this year and more difficult for him, but he goes there with a run under his belt, which is good.”
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